Calibrachoa sp. cultivar KLEC01068.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Calibrachoa plant, botanically known as Calibrachoa sp., and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98KLEC01068xe2x80x99.
The new Calibrachoa is a product of a mutation induction breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Stuttgart, Germany. The objective of the program is to create new early-flowering Calibrachoa cultivars with cascading and freely branching growth habit and attractive flower colors.
The new cultivar originated by exposing unrooted cuttings of a proprietary selection of Calibrachoa identified as S 34, not patented, to x-ray radiation in Stuttgart, Germany. Terminal cuttings were harvested from the irradiated plants, planted and flowered in a controlled environment in Stuttgart, Germany. The cultivar KLEC01068 was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within this population in 1999 on the basis of its cascading plant habit and white-colored flowers with light red purple venation.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Stuttgart, Germany since June, 1999, has shown that the unique features of this new Calibrachoa are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar KLEC01068 have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity, daylength, water status and fertility level without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98KLEC01068xe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98KLEC01068xe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar of Calibrachoa:
1. Cascading plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit.
3. Early flowering.
4. White-colored flowers with light red purple venation.
5. Good weather tolerance; tolerant to rain and low and high temperatures.
Plants of the new Calibrachoa differ primarily from plants of the parent selection in flower color as flower color of plants of the new Calibrachoa is white with light red purple venation whereas flower color of plants of the parent selection is solid light red purple.
Plants of the new cultivar are similar in flower color to plants of the cultivar KLEC00066, U.S. Plant Patent application filed concurrently with this application. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Stuttgart, Germany, plants of the new Calibrachoa differed from plants of the cultivar KLEC00066 in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Calibrachoa have a more cascading habit than plants of the cultivar KLEC00066.
2. Flower color of plants of the new Calibrachoa is white with light red purple venation whereas flower color of plants of the cultivar KLEC00066 is white and red purple bi-colored.